If the hedgehog heard it or not he sure didn’t make it obvious and just shifted his weight, averting his gaze around them rather curious again.
“Well. I think I’m done with questions now so…”
“Ah, you sounded curious when you said TMs before. I’ve got a case of ‘em in my bag if you want to see ’em.”
Talk about a subject change.
“Alright, alright. I got it. My bad.”
“Gotta agree with that last thing though, sorta.”
“Way better than cheesy boy bands. I wouldn’t be able to hear that stuff anyway.”
Rebecca had muttered that last part under her breath, shoving her hands in her pants pockets after adjusting her headphones comfortably.
If only he had a nickel for every time a sudden outburst happened during these times of small talk, he’d been even richer than he already was.
While those little triangular ears flattened reflectively at anything being so close to them, especially that loud, Sonic got the point but c’mon! How was he supposed to figure that out himself?
“Okay, I get it. Sorry…”
Rebecca hadn’t heard him before she put her headphones back on so she didn’t respond to his apology.
“So no, I do not listen to ‘boybands’. Those went out of style two years ago. Environmental sounds are much prettier anyway.”
What about that question could have possibly made her nervous he wondered?
Leaning forward to fix the female with a thoughtful look, green eyes meeting hers with a little twinkle in them.
“Are you listening to boy bands~?”
She absolutely hated that joke.
“Why don’t you listen for yourself?”
Rebecca took off her headphones, revealing the lack of wire before putting them near Sonic’s ears. It was the sounds of the environment around them, cranked up to a high volume.
Everything was now silent for the former champion as she looked a bit irritated.
“TM…Ri~ight…”
“Hmmm…Is it safe t’ say you have a thing for music?”
Uh oh. Rebecca adjusted her headphones out of habit once more, looking nervous. No one ever came right out and asked before.
“Erm, yes. Let’s go with that.”
Yep, there it was. Sonic was almost sorry he asked. Almost being the word but he wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to that since that kind of thing happened to him all the time but to a human it was surely a worse experience an suddenly this place didn’t sound like an ideal vacation spot.
“Bummer.” Was what he managed at last before turning his gaze elsewhere. A change of subject would be great right about now.
“Thankfully for everyone, using or teaching your Pokemon it is now outlawed due to the destructive nature of the move. Any and all TMs for Hyper Beam are banned as well. So no worries about seeing one anytime soon.”
“Any other questions?”
Of course while he had noticed that little a skewed vision Sonic was still debating if he wanted to question the ordeal further or not. On the one hand, his curiosity was nagging at him like no other but on the other hand he would hate to bring up something that was a sensitive matter – like he usually did then regretted instantly.
Decisions, decisions.
“…Hyper Beam?”
The indirect path it was.
“A powerful beam capable of leveling entire cities, obliterating bodies completely. It can be learned by nearly every Pokemon but it has a recharge time. I nearly got one to the face and had to spend a month in the hospital. Broken arm, shattered leg and rib cage, even now I still limp a bit. Trust me, you do not want to be on the bad end of one. There will be nothing left to identify afterwards.”
There was one injury that she had left out. One that she was sure he would think badly of. The reason for her headphones.
“A low-powered one alone can obliterate a boulder.”
“Kinda like how I’m the brat lucky enough t’ not get himself sliced in half by a metal version of himself. Barely.”
For a second there it seemed like the hedgehog didn’t take notice of her sudden change of expression until he offered another smile, one that was actually sympathetic.
"But whether we meant to or not, what’s done is done, right? ‘S not like we can change it, just learn from it.”
The former champion let out a sigh, adjusting her headphones out of habit.
“Yeah. I learned to stay out of a whack-job’s business. Otherwise I’ll just get a Hyper Beam to the face and a month-long hospital visit.”
It was very obvious that something must have happened. Something that tainted her view of heroism and led her to not consider herself a hero. Sonic felt familiar to her, but she didn’t know why. And if he pried, she would tell him, no hesitation.
“No~
You did what was right. Ya didn’t bow down t’ the people you knew were in the wrong and threatenin’ the greater good and pushed ‘em outta town. That’s kinda what a hero is in my book.”
"Plus I do like the same thing with robots and people label me as one.”
“I…”
Rebecca had a saddened look on her face now, her arms around her waist.
“… I’m not. I’m just a brat who was lucky enough to strike a blow to knock ‘em down without getting killed by a Hyper Beam.”
For a second, he got a little confused there as well before he cocked his head and smiled.
“I said you’re a hero, Lady. Don’t cha think~?”
"I…”
“I’m not…! I just did what anyone else would do- Stop laughing, Triton!”
The red-faced champion looked at the snickering Vaporeon on her shoulder before recalling Triton back into his Pokeball.
“Honest, I’m no hero.”
Back in the Game 
You must be logged in to post a comment.